


Keep the Light Alive

by celli



Category: The Mummy Series, Witchblade (TV)
Genre: Crossover, F/M, World War II
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2001-09-10
Updated: 2001-09-10
Packaged: 2017-10-12 20:49:57
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,868
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/128927
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/celli/pseuds/celli
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Elizabeth Bronte and Alex O'Connell in WWII Berlin.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I blame 90% of this story on Cath, who got me hooked on Witchblade, and the other 10% on Val, who made a completely unrelated comment about Alex that got me going. The song is from the Lowen & Navarro album "Pendulum."
> 
> Part One of this story is primarily in the Witchblade universe, and takes place after one of the scenes in "Periculum."  
> Part Two is more of a Mummy story and takes place almost a year later. Both stories are set in the 1940s, more than a decade after the events of "The Mummy Returns."
> 
> Thanks to my beta-readers: Jen and the Horsechicks (KikiPerriValDeeCath'n'Lizbet), who tried really hard even though few of them were familiar with both fandoms. And a last-minute thank-you to my brother BT, who listened politely when I got stuck.

_These are the times that try the strongest souls... --"Keep the Light Alive," Lowen & Navarro_

Berlin, Germany  
August 1944

"No, wait, please! Who created the Witchblade? Where did it come from?"

Elizabeth Bronte, SS Mistress, American spy--and Witchblade wielder--fingered the bracelet at her wrist.She understood, as Sara Pezzini might not, the meaning beneath her question. _What is the Witchblade's purpose? Does it want to help humankind, or some of it at least? And will it destroy me, if necessary, to accomplish its purpose?_

"It is a branch ripped from the Tree of the Knowledge...of Good _and_ Evil," she answered finally, hoping her "future" self could understand. Sara looked as though she might realize some layers of Elizabeth's meaning. Perhaps in time--

Elizabeth laughed softly as she exited the room and returned to her own "reality." With all the time--all the lifetimes--in the world, Sara might never truly understand that the Witchblade never limited itself to the human definitions of good, evil, right, wrong...Without turning, Elizabeth saw in her mind's eye the bed she'd left behind, and the man asleep in it. "Nor sin," she whispered to herself. "Nor salvation."

She had automatically walked along a section of soldiers' housing--rough barracks not far from the posh surroundings her Lieutenant had acquired for her. Engrossed in her own thoughts, she gave a startled squeak when someone grabbed her by her arm and pulled her into one of the doorways.

It goes without saying that the man started kissing her as soon as they disappeared from view.

"You know," she said breathlessly after a few moments, "we're spies, O'Connell. Aren't we supposed to have passcodes and such?"

He grinned down at her. "You don't think I can recognize you this way, Lizzie?"

"It's definitely...unique."

A cranky German voice came from the other side of the door, and Elizabeth ducked away into the small bedroom. She laughed at the clever, but very rude, response.

"Alex !Even I am not supposed to know what that phrase means."

He followed her in, reverting to that plummy British accent that came naturally to him. " _Do_ you know what it means?"

"It means your roommates aren't likely to bother us for quite a while."

He really was beautiful when he laughed, even with the too-short haircut and too-short uniform pants of the German private he was supposed to be. He had the most incredible blue eyes, and those dimples...well, even an "American Mata Hari" could be forgiven for succumbing, just a little, to those dimples.

He saw the look in her eyes and moved closer to the bed, but she held a hand up."Alex..."

"Lizzie..." he nearly whined.

"Alexander Carnahan O'Connell."

"Oh, now you've done it," he said glumly. "That sounded exactly like my mother at her most annoyed."

"And I'm sure you gave her just cause."

"Lizzie, are you going to pester me about my youthful indiscretions again?"

She held up a handful of documents. "Code work first." She leaned closer. "Then, if you're very lucky, we'll work on some not-so-youthful indiscretions."

"Well then."He snatched the papers from her. "Why didn't you say so in the first place?"

~~~~

A half hour later, Alex was mumbling to himself in a corner. Elizabeth tuned him out--from long experience--and concentrated on one particular document. The Witchblade felt warm on her wrist, and she rubbed it absently as she read.

"Lizzie?"

"Hmm?"

"Your arm is glowing."

"Excuse me?" Startled, she looked down at her right wrist. The gem in the Witchblade was indeed glowing. "It, ah...it doesn't usually do that."

He lifted an eyebrow at her. "In public, you mean."

"What? Alex--?"

"Oh, come on. Did you think I hadn't noticed that you're wearing the _Digitabulum Magi_ on your wrist?"

Her brain refused to kick in. "You know your history," she said finally.

"I know my treasure. Hitler filched it from the Vatican five years ago--"

"Filched?"

"--so you must've gotten it from Germer."

She stiffened at Rolf's name. Ever since they'd...met, both of them took care not to mention the man who was her main assignment in Berlin. "So?"

"So, you are going to return it to the Vatican when you leave here, right?"

"Look, Alex..." What was she supposed to say? Sorry, Mr. O'Connell, but I have a blood right to it, even if it is a centuries-old antiquity? "It's not that simple."

"Of course it is. It's just a stupid bracelet." He caught himself, and rubbed the heel of his hand over his eyes. "Although I've been wrong about that before..."

"It won't come off."

Something in her voice must have actually penetrated the absurdity of it all. He looked as though he might actually believe her. "What do you mean, it won't come off?"

She turned her wrist over to show the lines of scar tissue, where the Witchblade had embedded itself in her skin. "If I'm fortunate...it will stay on my wrist until I die."

"Lizzie. Elizabeth."

"Alex." She tugged on his shoulders until he looked from the Witchblade to her eyes. "There's things I can't tell you...there's things I don't want to tell you. It's been a rather difficult day, and I'm not ready for another argument on right and wrong."

He cupped her face in his hands, and for the first time she saw the same knowledge in his eyes that she'd held all along--that even if they won, even if their efforts were successful, nothing would ever be "right" after all this was over. She couldn't be normal for him, even if she wanted to.

"Lizzie. Tell me what to do?"

"Just...be with me, Alex .If you can."

Those dimples made an amazing reappearance. "Oh, I can definitely do that, love."

The Witchblade stayed warm on her wrist as she embraced him.

 _If the candle that you're holding has grown a bit too dim  
Then let me stand beside you 'til the sun pours in..._


	2. Chapter 2

_We're standing at the crossing  
Where day and night divide...  
\--"Keep the Light Alive," Lowen & Navarro_

 _  
_London, England  
July 1945

The O'Connell mansion was imposing from the outside and downright labyrinthine from within. Alex O'Connell hardly noticed, though. From the way he paced the floor of the library, he might be in a lion's cage.

Alex's parents, Evy and Rick, stood unnoticed in the doorway and watched their son mutter to himself. "He's been like this since he came back," Evy said quietly. "He's hardly eaten a thing--Alex, who would have cheerfully eaten a whole cow for breakfast in the old days. Something's wrong."

"Evelyn." Rick's deep voice was as quiet as hers. "He's literally been though a war. We know that much, even if he won't tell us what kind of work he was doing. He couldn't be the same after that."

"It's more than that," Evy insisted. "I know it is."

Rick smiled slightly. "You think it's a girl."

"What makes you say that?"

"Come on, Evelyn. I can read you like a book. Most books," he amended at the look she gave him. "You're hoping it's a romance."

"I'm a mother," she said stiltedly. "I'm allowed to hope for a romance."

"A daughter-in-law? Grandchildren?"

The doorbell interrupted the dressing-down Evy was about to hand out. Alex rushed past them. "Lizzie!" he cried as he threw open the door.

Evy threw Rick a look. "See?"

Then they heard Alex's horrified voice. "Oh, my God, Lizzie!"

A young woman stepped in the door. She was carrying a baby.

"Oh, yeah," Rick said as Evy gaped. "I see all right."

~~~

"Um, Alex?" Elizabeth peered through the door. "Your parents...are they, ah..."

Alex's father was holding the baby, which seemed harmless enough, although the faces he was making seemed more scary than amusing. The baby was flailing around with both fists, so maybe she liked it.

Alex's mother, though, was standing in the far corner of the library, turning in little infuriated circles. Elizabeth was surprised the air around her wasn't turning blue.

"Evelyn, relax--" Elizabeth heard before she was jerked around to face a very angry Alex.

"I haven't heard from you in a year. No one at Intelligence would even look me in the eye. I was sure you were--" He cut himself off and gave her a hard shake. "What the hell is going on?"

"You're shaking me, that's what--Alex, let go!" She slapped his hands away. "You're not going to be happy about what I have to say, but I'm not happy about saying it, either."

"Where have you been?"

"It took me months to get out of Germany. When I got pregnant, Rolf thought it was, well..."

"And was there a reason for Rolf to think what he thought?"

"No. Alex, I don't have a way to prove it, but there are...precautions that can be...I took them with Rolf."

She looked him in the eye as she said it. "I believe you. Go on."

"I finally got away from Rolf and out of Berlin. I've been in an Intelligence safe house ever since." She smiled slightly. "They had a lot of debriefing to do. I had...ah...a lot of things to explain." One hand went unconsciously to the bracelet at her wrist.

"The baby was born the day Germany surrendered," Elizabeth continued. "I named her Victoria--it seemed appropriate." She reached for her purse and pulled out a piece of paper. "I brought her birth certificate with me..."

"Why would you bring me her..." Alex had half expected it, but the look on her face was like a punch to the stomach. "You're not staying, are you, Lizzie?"

"I can't."

"But you--"

"Alex, I'm a spy."

"So was I!"

Suddenly, she looked not just older than him, but older than anyone. "I'm something else, too."

There was nothing he could say to that.

"Did I ever tell you that I never knew my parents?" she said quietly. "I was raised in an orphanage in America. I think about the Witchblade, and I wonder--I don't want that to happen to Victoria, Alex."

"We can protect you."

"I can't _be_ protected, Alex. There are things I have to do that even I don't understand." There was a bleak look in her eyes that he had seen once before, back in a German barracks almost a year ago.

~~~

Alex settled his daughter into his arms and tried not to hear the door closing behind Lizzie. His mother stood in front of him, at eye level with the bundle he held, and fussed with the blanket holding the baby. "When will she be back?" she asked.

"She won't," Alex said simply. "Did you see the bracelet she was wearing?"

"Of course. It's a replica of the one Cleopatra was wearing when she seduced Marc Antony."

"No. That is, it wasn't a replica." A sudden thought occurred to him. He looked down into his daughter's bright eyes. "Victoria, honey, don't develop a fondness for bracelets, all right? Your family doesn't have too much luck with that sort of thing." __

 _We'll hold a spark between us and keep the light alive..._


End file.
